It has been the
case for many years that the winning, live performance from
the National Championship Final at the Royal Albert Hall has
been released on CD. Traditionally, the remainder of the CD
has been taken up with highlights of the Championship Gala Concert,
yet the sad demise of this latter event has no doubt forced
a rethink.

In many ways it
is surprising that this new concept has not been thought of
before. The winning performances from down the sections are
just as valid and worthy of being heard as the elite Championship
Section winner, whilst also giving an interesting opportunity
to hear the best bands in the country at all levels of ability.
Gathering them together on one CD makes perfect sense and a
welcome change to what had become the somewhat hackneyed and
predictable pattern of the old format.

Grimethorpe Colliery
(UK Coal) Band last enjoyed the taste of success at the National
Championships in 1992 and in many people’s eyes were well overdue
for another victory. That 1992 triumph became the stuff of legend,
played out in front of TV cameras that trailed the band in the
wake of the announcement, just a few days before the contest,
that the pit in Grimethorpe was to close with the loss of the
large majority of the players’ jobs. It was a story that was
later to become the basis for the successful film Brassed
Off.

In 1992 it was Philip
Wilby’s The New Jerusalem that tested the bands, a fine
piece that somewhat ironically has been little heard since.
The choice of test piece in 2006 was controversial for paradoxical
reasons; not as has often been the case in the past for undue
modernism. This time controversy centred on the choice of a
Berlioz overture in Les Francs Juges - not widely considered
to be amongst the composer’s best. It is rendered here in an
ageing arrangement by Frank Wright that displays no shortage
of inadequacies.

On the day, Grimethorpe’s
performance was not the “cleanest” of the front runners with
runners up and local rivals Black Dyke, giving a very different
reading that was more overtly orchestral in conception and despatched
with immaculate precision. Spend just a few minutes with Grimethorpe’s
performance as preserved here and it soon becomes obvious that
this was a band on fire; it’s a performance that blazes with
an inner intensity from start to finish due in no small part
to the inspired direction of Allan Withington. Blemish free
it is not but it sure does get up an impressive head of steam
and it’s an excitement that communicates itself readily in this
recording.

Gustav Holst was
not only a master orchestrator but also a useful trombonist,
a fact given away by the call to attention from the trombones
at the beginning of his Ballet from ThePerfect Fool.
Perhaps as a result of Holst’s skill in orchestral scoring and
colouring with the idiosyncrasies of the instruments in mind,
the arrangement by Peter Parkes that tested the First Section
bands at Harrogate does not always sit comfortably for band.
It suffers from the lack of tonal contrast of purely brass as
opposed to orchestra. The First Section champions, Leicestershire-based
Kibworth under the experienced direction of John Berryman, did
however give a convincing reading that succeeded in negotiating
the many dovetailing semi-quaver runs of the outer movements
and created atmosphere in the central movement if not always
entirely settled in tuning. In short, an impressive performance
of an arrangement that is not easy to pull off convincingly.

With arrangements
of orchestral works testing the Championship and First Section
bands, the competitors in the lower three sections were given
original works by composers who know their brass. Scotsman Alan
Fernie has made something of a speciality of writing test pieces
for lower section bands. His knowledge of bands stems from his
first hand experience as a player. His music is always intelligently
conceived for its purpose whilst being tuneful and enjoyable
for both band and listener. Gothic Dances, the Second
Section test piece, is cast in three movements and as the title
implies, places music with a suitably middle ages feel into
a modern context. The winners, St. Dennis give a cracking performance
of real energy whilst demonstrating impressive accuracy of ensemble
in the outer movements particularly.

The opening movement
of Gordon Langford’s Sinfonietta for Brass Band became
well known through its use for some years as the theme tune
for the BBC2 series Best of Brass - how long ago it seems
since bands had television airtime. It is quintessential Langford
both in terms of its attractive melodious lines and colourful
and skilful scoring. Once again it was a Midland band that carried
off the Third Section title in the shape of the Long Eaton Silver
Prize Band under Sharon Stansfield, demonstrating playing of
confidence and warmth from a band that features a good number
of youngsters amongst its ranks.

Philip Sparke’s
Valerius Variations were a stern test for the bands of
the Fourth Section, with a quiet atmospheric opening soon giving
way to plenty of challenges on a more technical level. Whilst
Sparke writes test pieces at the highest competitive level,
like Alan Fernie, he knows how to engage bands of more modest
ability with music that is enjoyable to both rehearse and play.
This comes through well in Dodworth Colliery’s enthusiastic
performance, featuring some fine individual playing from a number
of band members as well as good ensemble work from all sections.
If any performance here proves that there is still quality in
depth to be found in the band movement then this is it.

As a new concept then
this is an idea that could well become a regular feature of the
brass band recording calendar. Don’t expect studio quality recordings;
the somewhat brittle acoustic of the Harrogate Centre coupled
with the well known shortfalls of the Royal Albert Hall acoustic
do not make for the finest results but as a historical record
of the winning performances down the sections, this could well
become a very useful ongoing project as well as a great memento
of a special day for the bands involved and their supporters.

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